Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

RYDER, Shaun

(b 23 Aug. 1962) UK vocalist and songwriter. Formed pop band Happy Mondays in Salford '84 with brother Paul (b 24 April '64) on bass, guitarist Mark Day (b 29 Dec. '61), keyboard player Paul Davis (b 7 March '66), drummer Gary Whelan (b 12 Feb. 66), and vital dancer/mascot Mark 'Bez' Berry (b 18 April '64). They developed a distinctive, sinuous funk/rock style on Factory albums Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) (sic) '87 and Bummed '88. Then they went overground as rough diamond ambassadors of ecstasy-fuelled late-'80s dance culture with 'Madchester Rave On' EP (top 20 '89). A Top Of The Pops appearance in the same week as marginally less interesting fellow Mancunian psychedelicists the Stone Roses seemed to signal a new musical dawn, but it was not to be; the promise of American success (Factory boss Tony Wilson to US music industry seminar: 'Wake up America, you're dead!') went largely unfulfilled, and after great success '90 with Pills, Thrills And Bellyaches (UK no. 4) the band began to fall apart under the pressure of accelerating hedonism. The making of follow-up album in Barbados descended into chaos of crack addiction and car crashes; the finished product Yes Please! '92 was a disappointment except for single 'Stinkin' Thinking', a notable example of Shaun Ryder's strange lyrical acuity. They disbanded in drug-addled acrimony early '93.

Ryder had done badly at school because he was left- handed and they stupidly made him write with his right, soon dismissed him as stupid. His partner is Oriele Leitch, daughter of '60s popster Donovan; they have two children. He cleaned up and made an unexpected comeback '95 as Black Grape, with ex- Ruthless Rap Assassin Paul 'Kermit' Leveridge and US producer Danny Sabre, fashioning an upbeat UK no. 1 album It's Great When You're Straight ... Yeah! on Radioactive, followed by Stupid Stupid Stupid '97 (with new recruit Carl 'Psycho' McCarthy) to more critical praise. He also played with Ralph Fiennes in a new Avengers movie.